Mitigating Racial Bias With Film: These Final Hours
In 2022, society is still in need of effective strategies to reduce negative racial attitudes about Black people. While there is research showing that public, explicit racist attitudes have decreased over time, many people still hold negative unconscious biases about Black people (Gibson, et al., 2017; Xu, et al., 2022). There is also research showing that racial discrimination still impacts nearly all facets of modern day society in areas such as education (Staats, 2016; Shi & Zu, 2022), healthcare (Almomani, 2022), access to loans (Howell, et al., 2021), the workplace (Bourabain, 2021) and the criminal justice system (Rucker, 2021). These findings suggest that while people may not explicitly endorse negative stereotypes about Black people, their behaviors suggest those attitudes are still driving racism in modern day society.
Results 1: Definitions of Modern Racism Before vs. After Viewing
Results 2: Positive vs. Negative Descriptions of Black Male Character Given After Viewing 1st Half
Negative Descriptions (42 words)
Positive Descriptions (16 words)
Results 3: Positive vs. Negative Descriptions of Black Male Character Given After Viewing 2nd Half
Positive Descriptions (53 words)
Negative Descriptions (16 words)
Dr. Bentley L. Gibson
Georgia Highlands College
thebiasadjuster.com
Study completed with the TFH team in conjunction with Dr. Bentley L. Gibson of Georgia Highlands College. Dr Gibson is a Psychologist, professor, and founder of The Bias Adjuster. Her research focuses on how to help people increase awareness about their own biases and the impact these biases have on their behaviors.